System and method for advertising and negotiating services for commercial and general aviation

ABSTRACT

A system and method for advertising and negotiating services for commercial and general aviation are provided. With the present invention, a pilot of an aircraft may enter into a computing device specific information about a desired service that the pilot wishes to have available upon arrival at a destination airport. This information is then transmitted to an airport bartering system that barters with fixed based operator (FBO) computing systems at the airport for the desired services. The airport bartering system ranks the latest quotes from the FBOs based on criteria identified by the pilot in the original request for the desired service. Advertisements for the top ranked FBOs are then generated and transmitted to the aircraft computer system from which the request for services was sent. The advertisements received at the aircraft computer system are displayed on an associated display for viewing by the pilot. The pilot may then select an advertisement in order to generate an order for the desired service. The order for the desired service is then transmitted to the airport bartering system which then forwards the order to the FBO computer system associated with the FBO of the selected advertisement.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Technical Field

[0002] The present invention is directed to a system and method foradvertising and negotiating services for commercial and generalaviation.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art

[0004] Typically, when a pilot is approaching an airport, the pilot maywish to call ahead to the airport to schedule services upon arrival atthe airport. For example, if the pilot intends to continue the flight toanother destination, the pilot may wish to purchase additional fuel forthe remainder of the flight. Similarly, if the pilot is ferryingpassengers, such as business passengers, the pilot may wish to scheduleground transportation to meet the passengers, food, lodging, and otheraccommodations. These services are typically provided by fixed baseoperators (FBOs) that are present at the airport or in close proximityto the airport.

[0005] Currently, the burden of knowing who to contact for a particularservice is placed on the pilot. The pilot must know, or lookup in aflight guide, for example, which FBOs are operating at an airport andpersonally contact those FBOs using radio or cellular telephonecommunication. The pilot must then negotiate the sale of the servicesorally via radio or cellular communication.

[0006] Many times there may be a plurality of FBOs that provide asimilar service at an airport. The present way of obtaining servicesmakes it difficult for a pilot to negotiate the best deal amongst theplurality of FBOs offering similar services since it requires that thepilot personally contact each FBO and negotiate to obtain a best dealfor the desired services. There is currently no mechanism available forthe automatic identification of FBOs and negotiation of the sale ofservices.

[0007] In view of the above, it would be beneficial to have a system andmethod for advertising and negotiating services for commercial andgeneral aviation. It would further be beneficial to have a system andmethod by which a pilot may enter information regarding services desiredand automatically obtain advertisements of currently available deals onthe desired services from FBOs at the airport.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] The present invention provides a system and method foradvertising and negotiating services for commercial and generalaviation. With the present invention, a pilot of an aircraft may enterinto a computing device specific information about a desired servicethat the pilot wishes to have available upon arrival at a destinationairport. This information is then transmitted to an airport barteringsystem that barters with fixed based operator (FBO) computing systems atthe airport for the desired services.

[0009] For example, the airport bartering system identifies which FBOsare present at the airport that offer the desired service. The airportbartering system then sends a request for a quote on the desired serviceto each of the identified FBO's computer systems. The FBO computersystems then return a quote for the desired service to the airportbartering system. The airport bartering system may then performautomatic negotiation between the FBO computer systems based on thereceived quotes to obtain a best deal for the desired service.

[0010] Once the airport bartering system determines that a better dealon the desired service is not obtainable, the airport bartering systemranks the latest quotes from the FBOs based on criteria identified bythe pilot in the original request for the desired service.Advertisements for the top ranked FBOs are then generated andtransmitted to the aircraft computer system from which the request forservices was sent. The advertisements may include textual and graphicalelements identifying the FBO and the terms of the offer for sale of thedesired service.

[0011] The advertisements received at the aircraft computer system aredisplayed on an associated display for viewing by the pilot. The pilotmay then select an advertisement in order to generate an order for thedesired service. The order for the desired service is then transmittedto the airport bartering system which then forwards the order to the FBOcomputer system associated with the FBO of the selected advertisement.

[0012] These and other features will be described in, or will becomeapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of, the followingdetailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The novel features believed characteristic of the invention areset forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as wellas a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof,will best be understood by reference to the following detaileddescription of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0014]FIG. 1 is an exemplary block diagram of an airport servicesadvertising and negotiation system according to the present invention;

[0015]FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram of an airport servicesrequest and selection device according to the present invention;

[0016]FIG. 3 is an exemplary block diagram of an airport barteringsystem according to the present invention;

[0017] FIGS. 4A-4B are exemplary diagrams of graphical user interfacesused to enter criteria for a requested service using an airport servicesrequest and selection device;

[0018]FIG. 5 is an exemplary diagram illustrating displayedadvertisements obtained from an airport bartering system in accordancewith the present invention;

[0019]FIG. 6 is a flowchart outlining an exemplary operation of anairport services request and selection device;

[0020]FIG. 7 is a flowchart outlining an exemplary operation of anairport bartering system in accordance with the present invention; and

[0021]FIG. 8 is a flowchart outlining an exemplary operation of anairport services request and selection device when generating an orderfor services.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0022] With reference now to the figures, FIG. 1 is an exemplary blockdiagram of an airport services advertising and negotiation systemaccording to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the system 100includes a plurality of fixed based operator (FBO) computer systems110-114 associated with FBOs that offer services at an airport. Theseservices may include, for example, fuel, food, lodging, groundtransportation, and any other service that may be offered to a pilot orpassengers of an aircraft.

[0023] A network 130 couples the plurality of FBO computer systems110-114 to an airport bartering system 120. The network 130 may be anylocal area network or combination of local area networks through whichdata may be transmitted. The network 130 may be wired or wireless andmay be a combination of two or more networks of the same or differenttypes. Examples of network 130 include a Bluetooth based network, anEthernet based network, a TCP/IP based network, or the like.

[0024] The airport bartering system 120 is further coupled to a wirelesstransceiver 140. The airport bartering system 120 receives requests forservices from computing devices associated with aircraft, such asaircraft 150, and sends advertisements of FBOs and their offers of saleto the aircraft via the wireless transceiver 140. The wirelesstransceiver may make use of any wireless communication medium includingcellular communication, radio communication, satellite communication andthe like.

[0025] The computing device on board the aircraft 150 may be any type ofcomputing device that is capable of receiving input from a user andtransmitting data via a wireless transceiver to the airport barteringsystem 120. For example, the computing device may be an on boardcomputer permanently affixed to the aircraft, a portable computer, alaptop computer, a personal digital assistant, or the like.

[0026] With the present invention, a pilot of the aircraft 150 may enterinto a computing device associated with the aircraft specificinformation about a desired service that the pilot wishes to haveavailable upon arrival at a destination airport. For example, the pilotmay wish to schedule ground transportation to be available for his/herpassengers, refueling of the aircraft, lodging for his/her passengers,food service, and the like. Moreover, the pilot may wish to negotiatewith one or more FBOs for providing of the service in order to obtainthe most acceptable deal on the sale of the service.

[0027] The computing device used by the pilot is preferably equippedwith an airport services request and selection device which may beimplemented in hardware, software or any combination of hardware andsoftware. The airport services request and selection device provides oneor more graphical user interfaces (GUIs) through which the pilot mayenter information about the services that the pilot wishes to scheduleat a destination airport. For example, the GUIs may include a first GUIfor selection of the type of service desired and a second GUI for inputof required service information for the particular service typeselected.

[0028] This service information is then transmitted to an airportbartering system that barters with fixed based operator (FBO) computingsystems at the airport for the desired services. That is, the airportbartering system maintains a directory of FBOs that are associated withthe airport along with the services that they offer. Based on theselection of service type, and possibly one or more parameters of theservice, entered by the pilot and transmitted to the airport barteringsystem, the airport bartering system may search the directory of FBOs toidentify a set of FBOs that provide the desired service. For example, ifthe pilot requested ground transportation, and specifically, limoservice, the airport bartering system may identify Al's Limo Service andDFW Limo Service as being FBOs associated with the airport and providingthe desired service.

[0029] Once the FBOs associated with the airport and providing thedesired service are identified, the airport bartering system sends arequest for a quote on the desired service to each of the identifiedFBO's computer systems. The FBO computer systems may determine a quotebased on current terms of sale of the service being offered by the FBOand return the quote for the desired service to the airport barteringsystem. The airport bartering system may then perform automaticnegotiation between the FBO computer systems based on the receivedquotes to obtain a best deal for the desired service. Such generation ofquotes and negotiation between computer systems is generally known inthe art of business-to-business e-commerce over the Internet, althoughit has not been applied to airport services in the manner of the presentinvention. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,275 to Charles Wong,entitled “Integrated Business-to-Business Web Commerce and BusinessAutomation System”, issued Jan. 29, 2002 describes abusiness-to-business system in which quotes for sale of products andservices are automatically generated by agent computer systems.Automated negotiations are described, for example, in “AutomatedNegotiations: A Survey of the State of the Art” by Carrie Beam and ArieSegev, Fisher Center for Information Technology & Management, Walter A.Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkley, 1997. Aspecific automated negotiation system in which negotiation protocol isexpressed in terms of a shared ontology is described in “An Ontology forAutomated Negotiation” by Tamma et al., 2002, available athttp://choices.cs.uiuc.edu/agent/ubicomp/papers/anontology-for-automated.pdf.

[0030] The negotiation between the airport bartering system and the FBOcomputer systems may be governed by negotiation parameters set by thepilot and transmitted with the original request for service. Forexample, the pilot may wish to negotiate for the lowest cost, the bestdelivery time, may designate a preferred FBO, or the like. Theseparameters may govern how the airport bartering system negotiates witheach FBO to obtain a quote that best fits the desires of the pilot. Forexample, the type of aircraft itself may be a parameter that governs howthe airport bartering system negotiates with each FBO.

[0031] For example, if a Beechcraft King Air airplane were the source ofa request for services including a hanger to store the aircraft indoors,then the size of the aircraft is a factor in determining whether a FBOresponds to the negotiation requests. That is, while the FBO may offerhangers for storing of aircraft, the FBO may not have a hanger largeenough, or a currently available capacity, to store an aircraft the sizeof a Beechcraft King Air. As a consequence, the FBO may not continuewith negotiations to provide the requested service.

[0032] The negotiation between the airport bartering system and the oneor more FBO computer systems may continue until a better quote is notobtainable from any of the one or more FBO computer systems. Once theairport bartering system determines that a better deal on the desiredservice is not obtainable, the airport bartering system ranks the latestquotes from the FBOs based on criteria identified by the pilot in theoriginal request for the desired service. For example, if the originalrequest for service received from an aircraft computer system indicatesthat the pilot wishes to obtain a lowest cost for the requested service,the quotes received from the FBOs may be ranked based on quoted cost.

[0033] Advertisements for the top ranked FBOs are then generated andtransmitted to the aircraft computer system from which the request forservices was sent. The top ranked FBOs are determined based onpredetermined criteria, such as a display size of the aircraft computersystem from which the request was received, e.g., only 3 advertisementsmay be displayed at one time on a display of the aircraft computersystem and thus, the top ranked FBOs are the top three FBOs. Theadvertisements may include textual and graphical elements identifyingthe FBO and the terms of the offer for sale of the desired service. Textand graphical elements for the advertisements may be received from theFBO computer systems or may be retrieved from a storage deviceassociated with the airport bartering system, such as the FBO directorystorage device.

[0034] The advertisements received at the aircraft computer system aredisplayed on an associated display for viewing by the pilot. The pilotmay then select an advertisement in order to generate an order for thedesired service. The pilot may select and advertisement using any knowninput device including keyboard, pointing device, touch screen or touchpad, voice recognition, or the like.

[0035] The order may include a designation of the service desired alongwith the terms of sale offered by the FBO and personal informationregarding the entity that will provide compensation for the service.This may include payment details such as name of the entity to bebilled, account number, billing address, and the like. The order isgenerated electronically and transmitted to the airport bartering systemwhich then forwards the order to the FBO computer system associated withthe FBO of the selected advertisement. The FBO will then arrange toprovide the service in accordance with the terms agreed to by submissionof the order.

[0036] Thus, the present invention provides a computerized mechanism forsubmitting a request for airport services, negotiating the terms of saleof the services with one or more FBOs, and placing an order for theservices. The present invention eliminates the need for the pilot tohave prior knowledge of the FBOs operating at a particular airport andthe capabilities of each FBO to provide a particular service. Thepresent invention further eliminates the requirement that the pilotpersonally contact the FBO to negotiate the sale of a particularservice.

[0037]FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram of an airport servicesrequest and selection device according to the present invention. Theairport services request and selection device shown in FIG. 2 may beimplemented in hardware, software, or any combination of hardware andsoftware without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. In a preferred embodiment, the airport services request andselection device is implemented as software instructions executed by oneor more processors.

[0038] The airport services request and selection device shown in FIG. 2may be integrated into a computer system associated with an aircraft.For example, the airport services request and selection device may beintegrated into an on board computer system of an aircraft, a laptopcomputer, a portable computer, a personal digital assistant, or thelike. Furthermore the airport services request and selection device maybe loaded onto a computer device such as that described above, as one ormore applications from a storage medium.

[0039] As shown in FIG. 2, the airport services request and selectiondevice includes a controller 210, a user interface 220, an airportservices GUI display engine 230, a storage device/memory 240, atransceiver interface 250, and an order generation device 260. Theseelements are in communication with one another via the control/datasignal bus 270. Although a bus architecture is shown in FIG. 2, thepresent invention is not limited to such and any architecture thatfacilitates the transfer of control/data signals between the elements210-260 may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

[0040] The controller 210 controls the overall operation of the airportservices request and selection device and orchestrates the operation ofthe other elements 220-260. The user interface 220 provides an interfacethrough which user input for designating desired services, specificsabout the desired service, display of FBO advertisements, selection of aFBO advertisement, and the like. The airport services GUI display engine230 generates the various GUIs used to input specific details regardingthe desired service, the display of FBO advertisements, and input of aselection of an FBO advertisement. The storage device/memory 240provides a temporary storage area for service request data, order data,FBO advertisement data, and the like. The transceiver interface 250provides an interface for the transmission and reception of data to andfrom an airport bartering system. The order generation device 260generates an order for services based on the selection of an FBOadvertisement by the user.

[0041] In operation, the user may initiate the airport services requestand selection device by providing an input via the user interface 220.The controller 210 then instructs the airport services GUI displayengine 230 to generate one or more GUIs to receive the specific detailsof the desired service from the user via the user interface 220. Theairport services GUI display engine 230 then outputs the GUIs via theuser interface 220 and receives the input from the user which is storedin the storage device/memory 240.

[0042] In response to receiving an input from the user to transmit therequest for services, the controller 210 reads the service request datastored in the storage device/memory 240 and transmits it to the airportbartering system via the transceiver interface 250. Thereafter, thecontroller 210 receives advertisements of FBOs providing the desiredservice via the transceiver interface 250 and stores theseadvertisements in the storage device/memory 240. The controller 210outputs the advertisements and receives a selection of an advertisementvia the user interface 220.

[0043] In response to receiving a selection of an FBO advertisement, thecontroller 210 instructs the order generation device 260 to generate anorder for the desired service from the selected FBO. The generation ofthe order may require additional input from the user via the userinterface 220 and/or retrieval of billing or other information stored,for example, in the storage device/memory 240. The order, oncegenerated, is stored in the storage device/memory 240 and thentransmitted to the airport bartering system via the transceiver 250.

[0044]FIG. 3 is an exemplary block diagram of an airport barteringsystem according to the present invention. The airport bartering systemshown in FIG. 3 may be implemented in hardware, software, or anycombination of hardware and software without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention. In a preferred embodiment, theairport bartering system is implemented as software instructionsexecuted by one or more processors.

[0045] As shown in FIG. 3, the airport bartering system includes acontroller 310, a network interface 320, a negotiation engine 330, a FBOdirectory storage device 340, a transceiver interface 350, and anoffer/acceptance engine 360. These elements are in communication withone another via the control/data signal bus 370. Although a busarchitecture is shown in FIG. 3, the present invention is not limited tosuch and any architecture that facilitates the communication ofcontrol/data signals between the elements 310-360 may be used withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

[0046] The controller 310 controls the overall operation of the airportbartering system and orchestrates the operation of the other elements320-360. The network interface 320 provides an interface to a local areanetwork for communication with FBO computer systems The negotiationengine 330 performs negotiation operations with FBO computer systems toobtain a best deal for services. The FBO directory storage device 340stores a directory of the FBOs that are currently associated with theairport and which may negotiate to offer services to pilots andpassengers of aircraft arriving at the airport. The transceiverinterface 350 provides an interface for sending and receiving data toand from aircraft associated computer systems. The offer/acceptanceengine 360 receives quotes from FBO computer systems and generatesadvertisements for display on aircraft associated computer systems. Theoffer/acceptance engine 360 further receives orders from aircraftassociated computer systems and provides those orders to appropriate FBOcomputer systems.

[0047] In operation, the controller 310 receives a request for servicesvia the transceiver 350 and performs a search of the FBO directorystorage device 340 for one or more FBOs that offer the servicerequested. The controller 310 then issues a request for quotes from eachof the identified FBO computer systems via the network interface 320.The controller 310 then receives quotes from the FBO computer systemsand instructs the negotiation engine 330 to negotiate with the FBOcomputer systems to obtain the best deal for the services in accordancewith negotiation parameters set forth in the request for service.

[0048] Once a better quote is not obtainable from the FBO computersystems, the controller 310 ranks the quotes according to thenegotiation criteria and instructs the offer/acceptance engine 360 togenerate advertisements with the specific terms of each quote includedtherein. The offer/acceptance engine 360 then transmits theseadvertisements to the aircraft associated computer system via thetransceiver 350.

[0049] At some time later, the offer/acceptance engine 360 may receivean order from the aircraft associated computer system via thetransceiver 350. The offer/acceptance engine 360 then provides the orderto the appropriate FBO computer system via the network interface 320.

[0050] FIGS. 4A-4B are exemplary diagrams of graphical user interfacesused to enter criteria for a requested service using an airport servicesrequest and selection device. The particular computing device depictedin FIGS. 4A-4B is a personal digital assistant, although other computingdevices may be used to implement the airport services request andselection device, as discussed above.

[0051] As shown in FIG. 4A, the personal digital assistant (PDA) 400includes a display portion 410 and an input portion 420. The displayportion 410 is touch sensitive and displayed items, such as fields,virtual buttons, and the like, may be selected by touching the displayportion 410 using the stylus 430 in an area close to the displayed item.In addition, input of alphanumeric characters and the like may beentered through use of the stylus 430 with the input portion 420, as isgenerally known in the art.

[0052] In the depicted example, the PDA 400 currently has displayed inthe display portion 410 an initial GUI of the airport services requestand selection device in which a user may select the type of service thathe/she wishes to schedule. For example, these services may include afuel service, ground transportation service, food service, lodgingservice, and the like. The user may select the service type that he/sheis interested in by touching the display portion 410 in an area near thevirtual button for the desired service using the stylus 430.

[0053] Upon selection of one of the service types displayed, subsequentGUIs are displayed for the entry of service specific informationidentifying the particular details of the service desired. FIG. 4Billustrates one such subsequent GUI in which ground transportationdetails are entered. As shown in FIG. 4B, the details may be entered viafields in the GUI which may take the form of text fields, drop downmenus, selection boxes, or any of a number of other known GUI inputmechanisms.

[0054] Upon entry of the specifics of the service desired, the computingdevice transmits the request for services to the airport barteringsystem. The airport bartering system may return advertisements of FBOsthat provide the requested service along with the details of the termsof sale for the requested service. FIG. 5 illustrates an example displayof FBO advertisements with terms of sale displayed. As shown in FIG. 5,advertisements having textual and graphical elements may be displayed.In addition, the specifics of the service that may be provided by theFBO are also displayed. For example, Al's Limo Service can offer thelimo service requested using the specifics of FIG. 4B for $400.00, canpickup the passengers at gate 13 and will arrive at the gate at 13:30hours. DFW Limo on the other hand, can provide the requested service for$325.00, can pickup the passengers at the transportation desk and willarrive at the transportation desk at 14:00 hours. From these details,the user may determine which option is best for him/her and select theappropriate advertisement.

[0055]FIG. 6 is a flowchart outlining an exemplary operation of anairport services request and selection device. As shown in FIG. 6, theoperation starts with the initiation of the FBO services request andselection device (step 610). A GUI for selection of desired service isthen generated (step 620) and output. Thereafter, selection of a desiredservice is received from the user (step 630).

[0056] Subsequently, one or more GUIs are generated and displayed forentry of service and negotiation criteria (step 640). Entries into theseGUIs are obtained from the user to generate a request for service (step650). The service request is then transmitted to an airport barteringsystem (step 660).

[0057]FIG. 7 is a flowchart outlining an exemplary operation of anairport bartering system in accordance with the present invention. Asshown in FIG. 7, the operation starts with a request for service beingreceived from an aircraft computer system (step 710). The airportbartering system then looks up the FBOs providing the requested servicein an FBO directory (step 720) and sends a request to the identifiedFBOs' computer systems (step 730).

[0058] Thereafter, responses are received from the FBO computer systems(step 740). The airport bartering system then negotiates terms of saleof service with each FBO computer system until no further improvement ofthe offers for sale is obtained (step 750). The quotes from the FBOs arethen ranked according to the negotiation criteria indicated in therequest for service (step 760) and advertisements for the FBOs aregenerated and transmitted for the top ranking FBOs (step 770).

[0059]FIG. 8 is a flowchart outlining an exemplary operation of anairport services request and selection device when generating an orderfor services. As shown in FIG. 8, the operation starts with receivingFBO advertisements from an airport bartering system (step 810). Aselection of an FBO advertisement is received from the user (step 820)and an order is generated (step 830). The order is then transmitted tothe airport bartering system (step 840).

[0060] Thus, the present invention provides a computer system forrequesting a quote on services from, negotiating with, and selecting anFBO to provide services to a pilot or passenger of an aircraft. With thepresent invention, the burden of contacting and negotiating with an FBOis shifted from the pilot to an automated system with the pilot onlyhaving to enter the criteria for the service desired and select theparticular FBO he/she wishes to provide the service. The actualmechanics of identifying which FBOs are available at a particularairport and which ones provide the required service, along withcontacting each one and negotiating a best deal, are all automated withthe present invention.

[0061] It is important to note that while the present invention has beendescribed in the context of a fully functioning data processing system,those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the processes ofthe present invention are capable of being distributed in the form of acomputer readable medium of instructions and a variety of forms and thatthe present invention applies equally regardless of the particular typeof signal bearing media actually used to carry out the distribution.Examples of computer readable media include recordable-type media such afloppy disc, a hard disk drive, a RAM, and CD-ROMs and transmission-typemedia such as digital and analog communications links.

[0062] The description of the present invention has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to bestexplain the principles of the invention, the practical application, andto enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand theinvention for various embodiments with various modifications as aresuited to the particular use contemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, in a data processing system associatedwith an aircraft, for obtaining a service from a service providerassociated with an airport, comprising: receiving input from a userdesignating a type of a requested service and one or more criteria ofthe requested service; generating a request for service based on thereceived input; transmitting the request for service to an airportcomputing system associated with the airport; receiving one or moreadvertisements for one or more service providers associated with theairport; and selecting an advertisement from the one or moreadvertisements to thereby order the service from a service providerassociated with the selected advertisement.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein receiving input from a user includes receiving user selectionsvia one or more graphical user interfaces generated by the dataprocessing system associated with the aircraft.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein the one or more advertisements include information obtainedfrom the one or more service providers identifying terms of sale of therequested service.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:generating an order for the requested service from the service providerassociated with the selected advertisement; and transmitting the orderto the airport computing system.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein themethod is implemented by the data processing system while the aircraftis enroute to the airport.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the dataprocessing system is one of a portable computer, a personal digitalassistant, an onboard computer of an aircraft, and a laptop computer. 7.A method, in a data processing system, for bartering for a service froma service provider associated with an airport, comprising: receiving arequest for service from a computer system associated with an aircraft,the request for service identifying a requested service; identifying oneor more service providers associated with the airport that provide therequested service; and transmitting a request for a quote on providingthe requested service to the one or more service providers.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, further comprising: negotiating with the one or moreservice providers based on one or more negotiation criteria.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the negotiation criteria are identified inthe received request for service.
 10. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising: ranking quotes from the one or more service providers basedon one or more criteria; and transmitting one or more advertisements fora subset of the one or more based on the ranking of quotes from the oneor more service providers.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the oneor more advertisements include information obtained from the quotes fromthe one or more service providers.
 12. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: receiving an order for service from the computer associatedwith the aircraft based on a selection of an advertisement from the oneor more advertisements; and transmitting the order a service provideridentified in the order.
 13. The method of claim 7, wherein identifyingthe one or more service providers includes performing a lookup ofservice providers in a service provider directory based on a type of therequested service.
 14. The method of claim 7, wherein the request forservice is received from an aircraft that is enroute to the airport. 15.A computer program product in a computer readable medium for obtaining aservice from a service provider associated with an airport, comprising:first instructions for receiving input from a user designating a type ofa requested service and one or more criteria of the requested service;second instructions for generating a request for service based on thereceived input; third instructions for transmitting the request forservice to an airport computing system associated with the airport;fourth instructions for receiving one or more advertisements for one ormore service providers associated with the airport; and fifthinstructions for selecting an advertisement from the one or moreadvertisements to thereby order the service from a service providerassociated with the selected advertisement.
 16. The computer programproduct of claim 15, wherein the first instructions for receiving inputfrom a user includes instructions for receiving user selections via oneor more graphical user interfaces.
 17. The computer program product ofclaim 15, wherein the one or more advertisements include informationobtained from the one or more service providers identifying terms ofsale of the requested service.
 18. The computer program product of claim15, further comprising: sixth instructions for generating an order forthe requested service from the service provider associated with theselected advertisement; and seventh instructions for transmitting theorder to the airport computing system.
 19. A computer program product ina computer readable medium for bartering for a service from a serviceprovider associated with an airport, comprising: first instructions forreceiving a request for service from a computer system associated withan aircraft, the request for service identifying a requested service;second instructions for identifying one or more service providersassociated with the airport that provide the requested service; andthird instructions for transmitting a request for a quote on providingthe requested service to the one or more service providers.
 20. Thecomputer program product of claim 19, further comprising: fourthinstructions for negotiating with the one or more service providersbased on one or more negotiation criteria.
 21. The computer programproduct of claim 20, wherein the negotiation criteria are identified inthe received request for service.
 22. The computer program product ofclaim 19, further comprising: fourth instructions for ranking quotesfrom the one or more service providers based on one or more criteria;and fifth instructions for transmitting one or more advertisements for asubset of the one or more based on the ranking of quotes from the one ormore service providers.
 23. The computer program product of claim 22,wherein the one or more advertisements include information obtained fromthe quotes from the one or more service providers.
 24. The computerprogram product of claim 22, further comprising: sixth instructions forreceiving an order for service from the computer associated with theaircraft based on a selection of an advertisement from the one or moreadvertisements; and seventh instructions for transmitting the order aservice provider identified in the order.
 25. The computer programproduct of claim 19, wherein the second instructions for identifying theone or more service providers include instructions for performing alookup of service providers in a service provider directory based on atype of the requested service.
 26. The computer program product of claim19, wherein the request for service is received from an aircraft that isenroute to the airport.
 27. An apparatus for obtaining a service from aservice provider associated with an airport, comprising: means forreceiving input from a user designating a type of a requested serviceand one or more criteria of the requested service; means for generatinga request for service based on the received input; means fortransmitting the request for service to an airport computing systemassociated with the airport; means for receiving one or moreadvertisements for one or more service providers associated with theairport; and means for selecting an advertisement from the one or moreadvertisements to thereby order the service from a service providerassociated with the selected advertisement.
 28. An apparatus forbartering for a service from a service provider associated with anairport, comprising: means for receiving a request for service from acomputer system associated with an aircraft, the request for serviceidentifying a requested service; means for identifying one or moreservice providers associated with the airport that provide the requestedservice; and means for transmitting a request for a quote on providingthe requested service to the one or more service providers.
 29. A systemfor ordering a service from a service provider associated with anairport, comprising: a first computing device associated with anaircraft; a second computing device associated with the airport, whereinthe first computing device communicates with the second computing deviceby way of a wireless communication connection; and one or more serviceprovider computing devices coupled to the second computing device by anetwork, wherein: the first computing device receives input from a userdesignating a type of a requested service and one or more criteria ofthe requested service, generates a request for service based on thereceived input, and transmits the request for service to the secondcomputing device; the second computing device receives the request forservice from the first computing device, the request for serviceidentifying a requested service, identifies one or more service providercomputing devices of one or more service providers associated with theairport that provide the requested service, and transmits a request fora quote on providing the requested service to the one or more serviceprovider computing devices; the one or more service provider computingdevices provide quotes on providing the requested service to the secondcomputing device; the second computing device generates one or moreadvertisements for the one or more service providers and transmits theone or more advertisements to the first computing device; and the firstcomputing device receives the one or more advertisements and selects anadvertisement from the one or more advertisements to thereby order theservice from a service provider associated with the selectedadvertisement.